Mass Effect: The Legend of Commander Shepard
by Custode delle chiavi
Summary: Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy, Star of Terra recipient, Captain of the Normandy, Hero of the Citadel, the Bane of Reapers and Collectors alike...no doubt you'd heard all this before, right? So... Do you want the legend...or the truth?...About him...or her? Or both? Listen, and you will know what many know not or choose to forget...


**Prologue**

Location: Unknown

Date: Unknown

Earth Time (Central): Unknown

* * *

_You don't have to let your past control you…_

_Go out there and give them hell. You were born to do this._

_Shepard, thank the Goddess you're alive!_

_I need a straight answer, Shepard!_

_It's the right call and you know it, Ash!_

_Let's get the hell out of here._

_Well, nobody's perfect._

_Shepard, good work on Freedom's Progress._

_Welcome to the new Normandy, Commander._

_Shepard, what can I do for you?_

_Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess._

_I'm Urndot Wrex and this is MY planet!_

_Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong._

_Goodbye, Shepard…and thank you._

_I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance Navy._

_I'm Commander Shepard._

_Commander Shepard._

_John Alan Bartlett Shepard._

_Great Soldier. Better man._

* * *

"There's so many of them." The child said to Stargazer.

He heard it, but the old 'man's' thoughts were always elsewhere, thinking on times past long ago and far away. Times when men and aliens came together to battle villains, terrorists, and machine gods. Times that stories held in their palms but certain details blew off like leaves. Times that invented heroes fighting impossible odds and suicidal missions.

Times everyone knew of, but cared not to remember.

After all, what good is the past if it's only in stories?

"Has there always been so many?" The boy asked again, still staring into the night sky.

Stargazer chuckled. "Yes, my sweet. They've always been there. Once, we traveled to many of them. Once."

"But we can't anymore?" The boy asked, visibly disappointed.

Stargazer patted the little one's shoulder. "Maybe someday, but not now."

"Oh…"

Stargazer sighed. He had cared for the boy since he was an infant, and knew one day his curiosity would get the better of him and nudge him to ask questions he had the right to know but still shouldn't know; some knowledge is best left in the void.

"You said we did travel up there once. How?"

And there it was. The moment he had hoped and dreaded for a long time. He could ignore it, even avoid it, but he Stargazer knew the boy would persist and persist until his already thinning gray hairs fell out and then some.

"Well…We don't know **everything**, but we do know that once we traveled up there whenever we wanted to, and we weren't the only ones in the universe. It would take too long to go back to the **real** beginning of time, but I do know where to start this story…it began…oh, so very long ago. With a man we only know about it in stories and tales. If you wish to know how we once traveled up there, into the stars and beyond, then perhaps it's time I told you about the story of the man who saved us all form extinction. Let me tell you the tale of 'The Shepard'…"

* * *

Disclaimer: All properties of the Mass Effect franchise (it's dialogue, codexes, and other materials) are copyrighted under Bioware and its Edmonton Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, Electronic Arts, Demiurge Studios, Edge of Reality, and the licensing of Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3.

A special shout-out to the creators of the first game who brought this sci-fi epic to our PCs and XBOX 360s:

Director Casey Hudson; Lead Writer Drew Karpyshyn; Game Writers Lukas Kristjanson, Chris L'Etoile, Mac Walters, Mike Laidlaw, and Patrick Weekes; Music Composers Jack Wall, Sam Hulick, David Kates, and Richard Jacques (cinematic scoring); Art Director Derek Watts; Lead Progammer David Falkner; Lead Designer Preston Watamaniuk; and all the atrists and programmers that work on _Mass Effect._

A very special thanks to Mark Meer, Jennifer Hale, Seth Green, Brandon Keener, Raphael Sbarge, Kimberly Brooks, Steven Barr, Liz Sroka, Ali Hillis, and David Anderson for making _Mass Effect_ more awesome and badass than anyone could have ever imagined...


End file.
